Reviews

2024 Nominees

• Benchmark Media DAC3 B DAC, $1895
• Bricasti M3 DAC, $6000
• Bricasti M19 CD-SACD Player, $10,000
• T+A DAC 200, $7620
• Weiss Engineering Helios DAC, $21,995

"There was some debate about whether anybody can hear the differences above a good Chi-Fi DAC like the Topping D90. Unless you are missing most of your high-frequency hearing, you can hear where a high-end DAC makes a difference."

The Bricasti M3 is a great example of that performance in a $6,000 DAC."

"The Benchmark DAC3 B is an audiophile DAC, with pro audio roots, that punches way above its weight."

"Benchmark Media Systems made its reputation in both pro audio and audiophile circles by designing gear with extraordinarily low noise and distortion, and selling it at reasonable prices."

"What Makes the Benchmark LA4 Preamp So Special?"

"A high-quality volume control is much of what makes a superior preamp shine, and the Benchmark’s volume control is outstanding. The Benchmark LA4 uses a bank of precision resistors switched by gold-contact relays to set volume in 256 steps of 0.5 decibels each."

"If accurate reproduction is your wish, you won’t find a preamp with meaningfully better objective performance than the Benchmark LA4, especially one made in the United States at anything near the LA4’s price."

"Very few preamps at any price reach the LA4’s level of objective performance."

"On the subjective end of things, the Benchmark LA4 preamp puts the lie to the old audiophile myth that neutrality means clinical, cold, or sterile sound. Instead, here neutrality means musical, involving sound, with precise, stable imaging, a sense of space (if one is on the recording), and exceptionally truthful timbres."

- Mike Prager, FutureAudiophile.com

"For years, the audio world acknowledged one main contender (at least at sub-five-figure pricing) for the quietest, cleanest, most neutral power amplifier around. That was the Benchmark AHB2, whose specifications are still, for all practical purposes, unsurpassed, even by today’s excellent Class-D amps."

"10 years after its release, the Benchmark Media Systems AHB2 stereo power amp is still a standard-bearer in clean, neutral sound in the audiophile world."

"I greatly enjoyed having a pair of AHB2s in my system – their purity, neutrality, and seemingly unlimited power provided a clear window on the music and a lot of joy."

"I especially appreciated the AHB2’s smooth, well-integrated treble, free of splashiness or grain, and its natural reproduction of the human voice."

- Mike Prager, Future Audiophile

"Benchmark is a stalwart brand in pro audio, but has carved out a very respectable niche in the audiophile world with their diminutive but powerful components."

"The audiophile world sometimes looks to the professional audio world for enlightenment, especially on the digital side of things, and Benchmark Media is one of the companies that we put high on a pedestal."

"They are hardcore digital engineers freezing their asses off in upstate New York as they come up with some pretty innovative ways to get your varied digital sources sounding as much like the master tape as possible. Thank you for your service, gentlemen."

"If you really want to hear what your music sounds like in today’s streaming-driven world, this might just be the DAC that you need to test out."

- Jerry Del Colliano, Future Audiophile

DAC3 HGC - "Does Not Color the Sound of Your Audio"

"The DAC3 HGC is a professional audio component used to make, monitor, and engineer the very recordings we love. All of what is prioritized in the DAC3 HGC has been developed with laser-like focus for this purpose."

"If the space is engineered into the recording, it’s there, if it is not engineered in, it is not there with the DAC3 HGC."

"The Benchmark DAC3 HGC is a pro audio DAC with audiophile appeal that allows a look into your music as a recording/mastering engineer would hear it."

"In the audiophile world, utilizing the DAC3 HGC properly can bring realistic texture, voice, and integrity to instruments that would normally take a DAC well over five-figures to do."

- Michael Zisserson, FutureAudiophile.com